Monday, 14 November 2016

Chronicles from Barcelona | Casa Milà - La Pedrera

In Eixample district we find Casa Milà, also known as La Pedrera, a true architectural land mark of Barcelona and one of the must see attractions of the city. Casa Milà is an apartment block designed by Antoni Gaudì and built between 1906 and 1912. This modernist building, inspired by nature and its organic forms, integrates the fantastic vision of Gaudi with the functional demands and comfort expectations of a rich family of the beginning of the twentieth century. Since 1984 Casa Milà was declared an Unesco World Heritage Site due to its outstanding universal value.

The building is set around two interior courtyards, providing light and ventilation to all the apartments, whose main corridors run around the central garage yard. The access to this patio is protected by a massive gate iron, that was meant for both people and cars going to the garage in the basement. The original garage is now a in auditorium. The patio walls present a polychrome painting with references to natural and mythology themes.

The natural motives are present all over La Pedrera. The wavy exterior facades resemble a moving sea with seaweeds materialized in the wrought-iron railings of the balconies. On the rooftop, the big chimneys remind us of strong medieval nights standing on the desert dunes, while the smaller ones have more organic forms. The set of architectural-sculptures placed there cover stairwells, ventilation towers and chimneys. Some of the elements are covered with trencadís (ceramic fragments), while other elements are only painted. One of the chimneys was topped with glass pieces and it was said that Gaudí used the empty bottles from the inauguration party of the building to do its work. The rooftop presents some of the most iconic views of La Pedrera (so be prepared to take lots of photos) and grants the visitor stunning views of Eixample, including of Sagrada Família.

Under the roof, lies the attic, now transformed in the Espai Gaudì, an interpretation centre that introduces the visitor to the life and work of Gaudí, through scale models and plans, objects and designs, photographs and videos. In the attic, where the laundry rooms were located originally, Gaudí showed the application of the catenary arch as a support structure for the roof, using 270 parabolic vaults of different heights, spaced by about 80 cm. From the inside, it resembles the ribs of a huge animal and at the same time, gives to the roof terrace an irregular, and unconventional, dune like landscape.

The visitors can also step into the period apartment located on the fourth floor of the building where was recreated a bourgeois family apartment of the first third of the twentieth century. The apartment was entirely re-fitted with the original elements like door handles, mouldings, doors and tiling. The original use of each room has been maintained and decorated with period furniture, works of art, ornaments, fabrics and household accessories.

I live in Barcelona and regularly see this building! It is indeed beautiful, it's just a shame it's so expensive to go inside! €20 is a week's worth of shopping for me! I really do think the council in Barcelona is milking the Gaudi buildings. As you have to pay to enter all of them!

Looks like an amazing place. I love visiting historic locations and buildings. The entry price is pretty steep though, you would think they might get a lot more visitors if they lowered the price a little.

Wow, this is quite incredible. I always hear amazing things about the architecture in Barcelona and this is really quite something. Beautiful photos too, you've really captured the essence of his style.

What interesting and unique architecture. I have never seen this building before, or even heard of it. If you were going to choose to live in apartment...in Barcelona, it seems like this place would be a dream come true!

I was always fascinated by this building, especially since I started studying architecture and I had to draw it in one of my classes. I like all of Gaudi's masterpieces, I think he was a unique architect, and I'm glad you managed to catch some great images of this gorgeous building!